Parries clinches Midwest Regional Title

KERNERSVILLE —Senior Kirsten Parries of Mount Airy High School won the Midwest Regional Cross Country individual 1A title with a time of 19:21 on Saturday.

Parries will be the number one seed for the Bears in the state cross country meet scheduled on Saturday.

She was named all-region and all-conference during the 2013 season.

Parries won the state championship title her sophomore year and registered two back-to-back first place finishes before Saturday’s regional meet. Last year, she placed third in the state meet.

Mount Airy Cross Country Coach Andrew Howard said Parries “sat on the leader” and ran hard enough to win in the regional meet. “She has been good her whole career,” said Howard.

“A strength and speed training combination adopted by Parries seems to be paying off,” said Howard.

Parries said she knew the strategy to win against top runners in the state at the regional would require drafting off the runners.

Parries said she followed the strategy and passed the second-place runner at around 400 meters. Parries continued to build a lead by about six to 10 seconds with 200 meters left to go in the race.

Several top finishes in the Midwest Regional competition qualified Surry County runners.

Halee Ratcliff, also of Mount Airy, qualified for the state cross country meet by recording a time of 22:08.

Parries added, “I am so excited my teammate made it also.”

The same runners that out-paced Parries last year will be back along with some other tough competition.

However, added Howard, “I am confident in her. Our expectation when we go is to win.”

Howard said throughout the season he thought Ratcliff had a shot to make state and to his satisfaction she did.

Last week on the same course, Ratcliff ran a 22:50.

Howard said tactics were involved and Ratcliff, the number 13 seed in the conference, ran a controlled race that was 20 seconds slower during the first mile.

“It gave her strength at the end, she caught three and passed them, I was really proud of her to drop 20 seconds in a week. It is pretty tough and her reward is to go to state.”

Howard said in the past two weeks all of the boys team got personal best, and four out of five did so at the Midwest Regional.

“All you can ask is that that they work hard and get better. I am pretty happy,” said Howard.

Joseph Dixon sliced 20 seconds off his personal best. Howard said he was impressed with the team’s improvements and all will be back next season.

“There have been lots of individual successes, and now we are starting to build teams, and that makes me happy,” said Howard.

In Midwest 2A for Surry County, the Surry Central boys cross country team took a fourth-place finish and qualified for state.

Freshman Daniel Alvarez of Surry Central finished third in the individual competition running a personal record of 16:44.

Surry Central Head Coach Jason Bryant said, “I am quite proud of my kids. I just can’t say enough of how good a group of individuals they are. They have really made this … season fun for me. They have proven that you can fill training and racing with hard work and lots of laughs. I don’t think any team in any sport has had more fun than we have this season.”

Coach Bryant said of the eleven athletes, nine ran personal best; and one tied a personal best.

“We had four girls compete today and all four ran personal best, three of the competitors were freshman and made significant improvements over the season; Jessica Doby, Lora McDevitt, and Taylor Jones. Danielle Dunn, a senior, has been a great team leader and has improved incredibly from her first year as a sophomore. She ran personal best of 24:30. Maria Trejo was my other senior, but was unable to compete because of a death in the family.”

Bryant said great running gave them a fourth-place finish and state meet qualification.

Bryant said, “Freshman Daniel Alvarez also had a big day running 16:44 for third place and making the All-Region team. His time currently ranks him as the fifth fastest freshman among all NC classifications. Daniel has the rare combination of both talent and work ethic, good thing to loom in the future.”

Kevin Pack is the only senior on the boys team. Bryant said he has provided great leadership and he ran hard matching his personal best of 17:58 in the Midwest Regional. Bryant said freshman Tyler Fitzgerald and Ricardo Lara, plus sophomore Danny Mata, all get to race one more week. It will on the big stage next Saturday at Beeson Park in Kernersville at 3:30 p.m.

Matthew Mayes of North Surry qualified in individual competition after he finished in sixth place and ran a personal record of 16:49.

Also Elkin High School qualified for the state competition, after the Elkin boys team finished in second place and its girls team finished third.

Official results were provided by Rodney King, State 1A Track Meet Director/State Cross County Director and President of the North Carolina Track and Cross Country Coaches Association, and are available at mtairynews.com and on ncmilesplit.com